MANILA, Philippines – Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Thursday said if he were Vice President Leni Robredo, he would have resigned as soon as President Rodrigo Duterte said he cannot trust her as co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD).
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo and Vice President Leni Robredo. INQUIRER file photos
Before sacking Robredo, Duterte said he could not trust the Vice President prevented her from being part of his Cabinet.
“Siguro kung ako ‘yun (If I were in her position), I would have resigned already automatically kasi (because) when there was a distrust to you as an appointee, delicadeza requires you to submit resignation,” Panelo said in an interview over ANC.
“Pero ang ginawa nya (Robredo), kung ayaw mo sa akin edi sabihin mo. That’s very rude (But what Robredo did is she said, ‘if you don’t want me here then tell me’. That’s very rude),” Panelo added.
Panelo insisted that Duterte still trusted Robredo when she was appointed drug czar.
It was when Robredo committed “missteps” that Duterte lost trust in her, Panelo pointed out.
“The trust was removed when you started committing steps na sa tingin ng appointing power, something is wrong,” Panelo said.
When Duterte said he cannot trust Robredo, he noted how the Vice President has been talking to various groups critical of his war on drugs right after she accepted the position to be the government’s drug czar.
“The problem with Robredo is this. Right after she was appointed, she began talking publicly about inviting the Human Rights Commission, she was talking to the United Nations, she would want to talk to the European, and she talks too much,” Duterte earlier said.
“I cannot appoint her as a Cabinet member. If that is the way her mouth behaves, there can never be a position for her,” he added.
Robredo was formally appointed ICAD co-chairperson post on November 6 and was fired on November 24.
Following Robredo’s dismissal, Panelo claimed that Robredo wasted an opportunity and used the post “as a platform to attack the methods” of the Duterte administration.